Against All Odds
by Piano4Life
Summary: In which the aftermath of The Last Jedi is revealed, in which Poe, Rey, and Finn have some bonding time, in which Rey definitely ships it, in which much is discussed about Kylo Ren, in which hope is shared, and in which Poe may or may not be married to BB-8. Oh, and in which there are many TLJ spoilers.


Against all odds, they'd made it. There were hardly thirty of them, and they all fit on the _Millennium Falcon_ with extra leg room, but they'd made it. Poe counted heads and made his rounds, helping out wherever he could – the cockpit, the makeshift med room, the engine bay – exchanging hugs, patting backs, clapping shoulders. He imagined Leia's voice in his head, guiding him through the motions. _Acknowledge your losses, but don't let that become your defeat._

He found the General herself deep in conversation with the girl who'd cleared their path earlier, whom he'd briefly met on D'Qar. Rey – that was her name. Leia wore a serious expression that Poe knew demanded no interruptions. He stood aside, just enough to make his presence know, but not felt. There was no point in eavesdropping. Poe trusted that if Leia wanted to fill him in later, she would.

Rey stood first, and Poe took that as his cue. She turned, slightly startled by the pilot behind her. Poe gave a small, easy smile. "Hey. I'm Poe."

Rey returned the smile, one corner of her mouth lifting slightly more than the other. "I'm Rey."

"I know." Poe gestured to her injured arm. "Have you gotten that looked at yet?"

Rey glanced at her arm in mild surprise. "Oh, no, this is nothing. There are probably others that need more help than me."

"That might be true, but I'm gonna need a second opinion." Poe waved at Leia. "General? I was going to find a bacta patch for Rey's arm – that okay?"

"I don't need –" Rey's protest was cut short by Leia's gentle interruption. "Permission granted, Commander."

Poe grinned back at Rey. "A quick look can't hurt, can it?"

"I suppose not," Rey grumbled good-naturedly. She let herself be led to the medroom they'd hastily fashioned from the _Falcon's_ main cargo hold.

Resistance officers flitted about, most of them clearing the area, their injuries tended to. Poe tried not to look at the one exception lying motionless at the far end, at Finn hunched over Rose's still body. He busied himself instead with finding some bacta wipes and strips of gauze.

Poe had seen what had happened out on Crait. He'd given the order to turn back, but Finn had ignored him and kept going. He'd seen, too late, Rose's ski speeder veer sharply and knock Finn's out of the way of the ram cannon. Guilt twisted his gut. _That should be me, not her._

Guilt burned into anger. _The First Order will pay for this._

"This might sting a little," Poe warned, holding out the bacta wipe over Rey's skin.

"I can do it myself," Rey said, taking the sanitizer from Poe's hand. "Thanks." With a small hiss of pain, she dabbed at her wound, cleaning away the dried blood around it. Afterward, she took some strips of the self-adhesive gauze Poe offered and tried to bind the wound. Poe quickly sensed that she wasn't left-handed and therefore was having some difficulty.

"May I?" After a hesitant nod, Rey held out her arm, and Poe carefully but tightly wound the gauze around the cut. He crossed the strips as he bound it so that they would hold without a knot.

"Thanks," Rey said once he'd finished.

"Anytime." Poe stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. "We've all been through a lot."

Rey murmured her agreement. She glanced over at Rose's makeshift bed. "Who's that?"

"Her name's Rose," Poe said. "Rose Tico. She's one of Cobalt Squadron's mechanics . . . and the only survivor." He paused, chewing his lip. "She . . . she got hurt saving Finn's life. I just hope we can save her, too."

Rey didn't reply. She walked over to Finn and gently touched his shoulder. Finn looked up, and they spoke to each other in hushed voices. Poe hung back, unsure of his place in their conversation. He was about to leave when Rey gestured to him and both her and Finn's faces turned towards him.

Finn stood, and he and Poe walked up to each other. Finn's movements were rigid, almost mechanical – Poe recognized his gait as that of one weighed down by immense guilt and looking for somewhere to put it. Not that Poe himself knew from experience.

"Poe . . ." The pilot's name was little more than a breath on Finn's lips.

Sensing the other man's hurt, Poe held out his arms. "C'mere, buddy."

Wordlessly, Finn let himself be hugged, resting his head on Poe's shoulder. Poe rubbed Finn's back with one hand and extended the other to Rey. "Come on, you too, Rey."

Rey stepped into Poe's embrace a little more hesitantly than Finn had, but her shoulders visibly relaxed when Poe settled his arm across them. She murmured, "You're warm."

"Thanks," said Poe. "It's the jacket."

"I was talking to Finn."

"To be fair, that _is_ my jacket."

"You mean, it _was._ " A shadow of a smile crossed Finn's face. "S'mine now."

Poe raised an eyebrow. "Is that how we're doing this now? I hope you realize you're also wearing one of _my_ shirts and _my_ pants and _my_ – "

"I hope you don't want them back _now_." Finn pulled away first and gestured to his clothes.

"Nah, I'd have to arrest you for indecent exposure." Poe smiled as he and Rey stepped away from each other.

Rey rolled her eyes. "Get a room."

Finn looked a little startled by the comment, but Poe laughed it off. "I'm sure that could be arranged."

"What – wait – I mean –" Finn spluttered.

Poe reached over and clapped him on the shoulder. "Just messing with you, buddy. You're cute and all, but Beebee-Ate's already claimed me."

Rey burst out laughing, and poor Finn just looked even more confused. "Wait, what?"

"Poe," Rey beamed, "thank you. You have no idea how much I needed to hear something like that."

"What, that I'm married to a droid?" Poe smiled and waved a hand. "Anytime."

"Are you – is he serious?" Finn looked from Poe to Rey and back to Poe again. "Are you serious?"

Poe gave an ambiguous shrug. He gestured to the empty and open space around them. "Wanna have a seat, catch up a little bit?"

"That sounds nice," said Rey as she pulled up a large crate. Finn leaned against Rose's bedside while Poe sat down on another crate.

"How was Luke doing when you found him?" Poe asked. "I mean, I assume you found him, since he came back to help us and all."

"He was a bit strange at first," Rey admitted. "I tried to hand him his old lightsaber, but then he just threw it over his shoulder and told me to leave."

"What?" Poe exclaimed as Rey rummaged through her satchel for the saber.

"You're not serious!" Finn said incredulously. "What did he do next?"

Rey shrugged. "He went into some hut and tried to ignore me. Eventually, I set Chewbacca on him."

Poe laughed. "That's definitely the way . . . to go . . ." His voice and his smile died together when he saw the lightsaber hilt.

"Poe?" Finn frowned. "You okay?"

Poe's voice shook a little more than he wanted it to. "Where did you find that?"

"Um . . ." Rey looked to Finn for help. "Takodana? Maz's castle?"

Finn shrugged. "Maz had it, and she gave it to me during the attack. Then, at Starkiller, I guess Rey must have picked it up from me after I passed out." He studied Poe's face some more. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? You look like you're looking at a ghost."

Poe gave a short laugh. _You have no idea._ Instead, he said, "It's nothing. It's fine."

Finn looked like he wanted to argue, but the smoldering fire in Poe's eyes convinced him otherwise. Thankfully, Rey continued her story. "Anyway, after a bit of a rocky start, he showed me some things. I'm not sure I understand the Force that much, or where I come from really, but I did learn some stuff." She glanced at Finn. "What about you?"

"Well, uh, Poe and I were still here with the Resistance," Finn said quickly. "Rose and I were going to try and find a guy who could sneak us onto the First Order cruiser so we could shut down their hyperspace tracker while Poe bought us some time. It sort of worked. Our slicer turned out to be a turncoat, and Canto Bight wasn't really as great as it looked. I didn't realize that places like that in the galaxy actually ran off of the war the way that Canto Bight does."

"Yeah, well, that's what happens when you turn a planet to a casino and invite the galaxy's richest beings there," Poe said sympathetically. "Sorry about the slicer. He didn't hurt you guys, did he?"

Finn shook his head. " _He_ didn't. Executioners nearly got us, but then the ship suddenly exploded, and Beebee-Ate rolled in on a walker and saved us."

Poe raised an eyebrow. "I'll have to ask him about that sometime."

"You have one hell of a droid," Finn said.

"That I do," Poe agreed.

"I can almost understand why you wanted to go back to Jakku."

"Almost? Just almost?"

"Where'd you find him, anyway?" Rey asked curiously. "I've never seen a droid that has so much personality like that."

Poe waved a hand in what he hoped was a nonchalant gesture. "Birthday present."

He was met with dual expressions of confusion.

"A what now?" asked Finn.

"You know, a birthday present . . ." Poe trailed off. "Wait, neither of you've had birthdays?"

Finn and Rey glanced at each other and both shook their heads.

"I've heard of the custom," Rey began, "but I've never really seen the point of it. Er, no offense."

"None taken," Poe said warmly. "It's really an arbitrary thing, if you think about it. Most people are born only once."

"They kept track of years in the First Order," Finn said quietly. "Counting was never a cause for celebration. Once you hit a certain number, well . . . let's just say there weren't any old stormtroopers in the ranks."

"Force, Finn," Poe breathed. "That's . . . that's . . . I don't know what to say."

"That's not my life anymore," Finn said simply.

Suddenly, Rey stood, her expression fierce. "I thought you got the message to _stay away_."

Startled by her abrupt change of tone, Poe stood and tentatively put a hand on Rey's shoulder. "Rey? What is it?"

Rey's eyes momentarily widened. "No, Poe, don't – "

"This is new," said a new voice. Poe whirled around and caught himself staring at the face of –

"Ben?" Poe whispered.

"Poe Dameron," came the soft, cold reply. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Poe's initial shock gave way to unspeakable rage, and he unholstered, loaded, and aimed his blaster all in one fluid motion. His finger curled around the trigger. "Kriffing, banthafragging piece of nerf shit –"

"Poe, don't!" someone yelled, yanking the blaster from his hand.

"Such a dirty mouth," Kylo Ren purred. He tilted his head suggestively, no warmth in the gesture. "Shall we find a better use for it?"

"Motherfucking son of a bitch!" Poe yelled, wrestling the arms holding him back.

Ren clicked his tongue. "That's not a nice thing to say about General Organa."

"You have no right to say her name, not after what you've done," Poe snarled. He fished in one of his side pockets where he kept some spare credits, pulled out a silver coin, and hurled it at Ren's face. "Add that to your thirty pieces, you fucking _traitor_."

Ren stopped the coin with the Force and plucked it out of the air. Something crossed his face, and for a moment, Poe could have sworn he saw the face of an old friend. The moment was gone all too soon.

"I'm not the one who destroyed everything," Ren hissed, his fist clenching around the coin. "I'd think a little harder about why the whole Resistance can fit on a single freighter if I were you."

Ren tossed the coin back at Poe –

– and the connection snapped. As if being thrown back from an explosion (a feeling Poe was all-too-familiar with), Poe, Finn, and Rey were thrust back against the far wall.

Finn was the first to speak between shaky breaths. "What the hell was that?"

"When I was with Luke, Supreme Leader Snoke connected my mind to his," Rey explained, stammering slightly. "Sometimes, I can see him, and he can see me, but once we left Crait, I shut down the connection on my end. He must have found some way to get past it."

"It doesn't matter." Poe stood and looked around for his discarded blaster. Switching the safety back on, he thrust it into his side holster. "When we burn down the First Order, he'll be the first of the kindling."

"Poe, I'm going to ask you a question, and I need you to answer me honestly," Finn said grimly. "Do you know him? Do you know Kylo Ren?"

Poe didn't look up. "That's two questions."

"So you do."

Poe gestured uselessly. He didn't try to defend himself against the accusation. "So what if I did? It was a long time ago. I don't know him anymore. It's over."

"No, it isn't," Rey whispered. "Not to you."

"Just because you can root around in Kylo Ren's head doesn't mean you can go digging around in mine," Poe snapped. He realized what he'd said and immediately softened. "Sorry, I'm – look, I'm sorry, it's just that – I can't – I don't like talking about it."

"Poe," Rey said softly. "There's still hope for him. I know, I can feel it."

"Don't say that," Poe said, shaking his head.

"Why? Because it might be true?"

"Because I might believe it, and that's worse."

Finn raised his hands. "I'm not taking a side in this."

"Poe, what you said to him," Rey said, the hint of a challenge in her tone, "hurt him. You could see it as well as I could. And it hurt you to say it."

Poe licked his lips. "So what if it did? I'm sentimental."

"Poe, what happened?"

"Why do you care?"

"When I looked at Kylo Ren – at Ben – I saw a darkness," Rey said. "But beneath that, there was anger and pain and betrayal, and I'm looking at you and seeing the same thing. You seem like a good man, Poe. I don't want that darkness to take you like it took Ben."

"Like it took Ben," Poe repeated. "Darkness. That's poetic, Rey. That's real poetic." His hands clenched into fists, itching to hit something, to break something, to _destroy_ something – but he forced himself to stay still. "Nothing _took_ Ben from me. I pushed him away on my own."

Poe took a deep breath. "We were friends once. But then we grew up. I wanted things from him that he couldn't give to me, and he wanted things from me that I should have been able to give to him." He ran a tired hand through his hair. The next words came out in a whisper. "I loved him once, but I loved the war more. I heard the bombs in the air and the scream of starfighter engines, and I knew that that was where I belonged. Ben was the opposite – he wanted to be as far from the war as possible. I could've – no, I _should've_ – been better to him. In our last year, we fought all the time. The war between us was far worse than the one between the Republic and the First Order. I started to see less and less of him, and then . . ."

Poe's vision started to blur slightly. "Then _that night_ happened. We'd discovered the location of a potentially unguarded Super Star Destroyer near Coruscant, an easy target. I didn't have to go, I really didn't. But _stang_ , I knew if I went, if I landed a shot and showed the fleet just how good I was, I'd be more than just another Republic dropout. I'd be a Resistance flier, and I wanted that so badly I couldn't see anything past the next fight.

"Ben showed up right when I was volunteering for the mission. Long story short, Luke had tried to kill him, Ben had burned the temple and escaped with a handful of other students, and now he was asking me for help."

"Time out," Finn said quickly. He looked from Poe to Rey. "Luke, as in Luke Skywalker? I mean, I know this is Kylo Ren we're talking about, but this was a long time ago, and it just doesn't seem right, even for him."

"Luke told me it was a spur-of-the-moment thing," Rey said. "He was afraid of the darkness growing inside of him and wanted to end it. Luke told me that he regretted the moment he ignited his lightsaber. He didn't mean it, but – "

"By then, it was too late," Poe finished. He sighed. "Yeah. I should have seen that, should have known what that must have done to Ben. He showed up on Chandrila desperate for a friend, and there I was, obsessed with my own glory. I was young and selfish and stupid and couldn't get over our past arguments. Ben was scared. He didn't have anyone left to turn to, and he had nowhere to go, so against all odds, he found me and – and – " Poe's voice broke off. Something wet slipped down his face, and he tried to smile it away.

"Poe, you can stop if you need to," Finn said hurriedly. "We get it if it's hard to talk about." "No, it's fine." Poe forced himself to smile a little bigger. _Show that you're okay, and someone might just believe it._ "Like I said, I'm just sentimental.

"Anyway, he asked me – you won't believe this – he asked me to come with him. To the First Order. He promised me a war and safety and that we could both start over." Poe shook his head, laughing softly to dull the ache in his words.

"And you said no," Rey guessed.

"Oh, it was more than that," Poe said. "I had some choice words for him, and he had some for me, and, well . . . we fought. Really badly. I think we hurt each other more than the bruises showed." He chewed his lip again. He couldn't seem to stop doing that. "Before he left, though, Ben kissed me. Right here." Poe tapped his forehead. "It's a customary Chandrilan gesture for the dead, for someone you'll never see again. The last thing he said to me – _Force_ , I can still remember it – the last thing he ever said was, _I don't need to take anything from you, because you'll destroy everything you love all on your own._ Then he went off and became Kylo Ren, and I stayed behind and became Poe Dameron."

Rey's hand settled over her mouth while Finn bowed his head. "Force, Poe. I . . . I can't imagine."

"Good," Poe said. "It's better if you can't."

"Poe." Rey touched his arm gently.

"If you're going to say it's not my fault or I didn't know better or something about how the dark side and Snoke were already influencing him, save it." Poe's tone was too weary to be scathing. "It's easier for me to just be angry at him."

"There's still light in him, Poe," Rey insisted. "Don't let him go just yet."

There was silence for a moment. Then, Poe gestured to the lightsaber. "You know, that used to be Ben's lightsaber."

Both Finn and Rey stared at the hilt in surprise.

"I held that thing once," Finn spluttered. "I killed a guy with that."

Poe raised an eyebrow. "Haven't heard that one before."

"I thought this was Luke Skywalker's lightsaber," said Rey.

Poe nodded. "It used to be. Apparently, he lost it in Cloud City on Bespin, so he built another one, then some smugglers and a few black-market deals and Ugnaughts later, an old friend of his – Calrissian, I think – found it and returned it to him. Luke didn't need it, so he passed it on to Ben." He shrugged. "At least, that's what I heard."

"Unbelievable," Finn remarked. "Maybe that's why Solo looked so spooked when Maz handed him the saber."

"And why Ben was so obsessed with getting it back in the forest on Starkiller," Rey agreed.

Poe shook his head. "These are probably both wonderful stories that I'd love to hear sometime. Also, did you just call Han 'Solo'?"

Rey grinned, while Finn merely shrugged. "You know, he asked me that, too. Is it just in the air? Am I not supposed to call him Solo?"

"No, it's not that," Poe laughed. "It's just that no one ever does. It's usually _Han_ or _Commander_ or _scoundrel._ Sometimes _sleemo_. Never _Solo_."

"Oh." Finn smiled sheepishly. "Guess that makes me special."

"Guess it does." Poe stood up and stretched. As if on cue, BB-8 came rolling down the hall, chirping and whistling. The droid nudged Poe's leg affectionately.

"You two are just adorable," Rey declared as she and Finn also stood.

BB-8 beeped indignantly, and Poe rubbed his droid's head. "Yes, of course, not, warriors aren't _adorable_."

Finn threw his hands up in mock exasperation. "Why am I the only one around here who can't speak droid?"

BB-8 offered a colorful reply, which Poe wisely censored: "Because you are an uncultured heathen."

Rey raised an eyebrow at Poe's translation, and he winked. Finn stared at them and the orange astromech happily rolling around Poe's legs. "I somehow feel insulted."

"You're catching on," Poe replied.

BB-8 gave a shrill squeal and clicked rapidly.

"Alright, we're going." Rey smiled. "To the cockpit?"

"Let's go see who our new friends are," Poe agreed.

Rey left the medroom with BB-8 first, and Poe was about to follow when he saw Finn taking a long look at Rose's prone form. Poe put a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "She'll get better, Finn. We'll fix her up, and she'll be okay."

"That should be me," Finn said quietly. "I was almost there. I could have made it."

Poe's stomach tightened at how easily Finn could speak of his own near-sacrifice. "She did it to save you. I would have done the same. That's why I ordered you guys to retreat."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really." Poe stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Her sister, Paige, was a bomber. I got to work with her a few times. She used to say that it wasn't about destroying the things you hate – "

"It's about saving the things you love," Finn finished quietly.

"Yeah." Poe smiled. "Rose tell you that?"

Finn nodded.

"I used to think that loving the Resistance meant fighting all the time," Poe admitted. "Hell, if I'm being honest, I still do. And sometimes, I let that get in the way of what's really important, what my job really is. I can't stand the First Order or what they've done to us, and I mean to make them pay for every life they've ever taken. Someday. But lately . . ." Poe bowed his head, thinking about all the people they'd lost in the last day alone. He could still see so clearly the First Order ships torn apart by a beam of light, could picture the resolute expression on Amilyn Holdo's face as she made the sacrifice that would carry the Resistance to safety. He thought about the coin he'd flung at Kylo Ren's – no, _Ben's_ face – Ben, whom he'd left behind but whom he'd called the traitor instead. He thought about how close he'd come to losing Leia, had her Force instincts not saved her in the vacuum of space – and all the reckless decisions he'd made, thinking they were for the good of the Resistance. "Ben was right. I've lost too much of what I loved because I thought I could love something else that would never love me back." Poe ran a hand through his hair. "The war can't love you, and really, neither can the Resistance. But people can, Finn, and people will. I don't want to sound like a badly delivered holodrama line, but that kind of love and friendship and camaraderie is what's going to win this war for us. Not hero worship, not revenge tactics. Just us and this little thing we have called hope."

Finn's mouth curved into a smile. "That was poetic, Poe."

"One of my dad's old friends used to say that rebellions were built on hope," Poe replied warmly. "Resistances can be, too."

Finn gestured to their surroundings. "You really think we have a chance? I mean, I don't want to sound pessimistic, but there's one ship of us and _planets_ full of them. _Force_ , Poe – what are the odds?"

"In the words of one of _my_ old friends," Poe smiled, "Never tell me the odds."

Poe put an arm around Finn's shoulders, and together, they headed for the cockpit.


End file.
